Identification and Distribution of Pollinating Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on Sterile Male Cotton

Abstract

The percentage of pollinated sterile male cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., pistils, the number of pollen grains per pistil, and seeds per boll were determined with relation to distance from fertile male plants. Distribution of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., and the number foraging on sterile male flowers with cotton pollen on their bodies also were measured at various distances from fertile male plants. The percentages of sterile male pistils with pollen, pollen grains per pistil, and seeds per boll did not decrease with increasing distance from rows of fertile males in the first year of the study. In the second year, the study was repeated. At site A, the plants adjacent to fertile male rows had significantly greater numbers of pollinated pistils, pollen grains per pistil, and seeds per boll than more distant rows. At site B, the population of foraging honey bees was large, and every pistil was pollinated regardless of its location. However, pollen per pistil and seeds per boll were greater in rows adjacent to fertile male plants. Honey bees were equally distributed on fertile male and sterile male rows, and all foragers on sterile male flowers had some cotton pollen on their bodies as well as pollen from other species. Cotton pollen per forager was greater in sterile male rows closer to fertile males compared with rows farther away.